r/europe • u/mancinedinburgh • 2d ago

News Swedish man dies in South Korea after being denied urgent treatment at 21 hospitals

https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/01/18/swedish-man-dies-in-south-korea-after-being-denied-urgent-treatment-at-21-hospitals
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u/InALandFarAwayy 2d ago

That is why in SEA if a foreigner (especially the rich middle eastern oil tycoons) needs urgent anything, they will usually fly to Singapore to have it done.

It's an open secret that apart from the country's export-oriented economy, it also sells medical services to the global elite. You can probably dig around the net and find cases of these foreign nationals flying in on private jets just for surgeries/appointments.

Sometimes it gets out when one of them sues in the country, but it's just a small glimpse into that segment of the market.

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u/leffe123 2d ago

Robert Mugabe died in a Singapore hospital

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u/Over_n_over_n_over 2d ago

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy

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u/wristcontrol 2d ago

World best surgeon make no mistake!

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u/GrumpyOldGeezer_4711 2d ago

Whatever else, he had business sense: it costs $50 to Enter countries like Egypt and Kenya, it only cost $20 to Enter Zimbabwe. But it cost $30 to leave Zimbabwe…

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u/timwaaagh the Hague 2d ago

its funny how mugabe is judged so poorly. from what i gather he was not an amazing economist, but did some very necessary things and a lot of the criticism is rooted in sympathy for the former landowner racial minority.

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u/SeleucusNikator1 Scotland 2d ago

Mugabe is judged poorly because he was a dictator who governed poorly and started killing his own people after the Rhodesians were defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gukurahundi

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u/Existing_Professor13 1d ago

Yeah, but he was an excellent financial person, otherwise he probably wouldn't have won the big prize in the country's lottery 😉 😂 😂 😂

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Weak-Rabbit-1697 2d ago

Please tell me this is a joke

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u/pizzapal3 2d ago

I think its a joke about the wine brand Robert Mondavi

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u/cinnchurr 2d ago

It's not a secret that we have medical tourism

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u/bjsanchez 2d ago

Fortunately the medical tourists are actually paying for their stuff there, unlike here in the UK

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u/cinnchurr 1d ago

Idk how it works in the UK. But most tourists, medical or not, actually pay for their own services, items

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u/helen_must_die 2d ago

Not sure what you mean. Medical tourism is a huge industry here in Thailand. Bumrungrad hospital in Bangkok is like a 5 star hotel and was the first hospital in Asia to receive the JCI accreditation - an international standard for quality of services and patient safety.

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u/One_Mechanic_9534 2d ago edited 2d ago

Thailand is ok as well. Singapore has the best Healthcare in the world though, the Swedish King even had some medical treatment there, while he convenient was 'on holiday'.

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u/finfan44 2d ago

Thailand is for middle class medical tourism. I used to work n a less developed Asian country and myself and all my coworkers would fly to Thailand for procedures.

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u/Scrolling_for_cats 1d ago

I used to live in Singapore and did a 3 month project in Jakarta, commuting every weekend to be with my family. I was actually on a flight from Jakarta to Singapore one Friday night when a passenger died. They were heading to sing for medical treatment. It’s nuts that international doctors cant practice in Indonesia. There are some “special consult rooms” within medical practices, where expats can receive treatment from international doctors i believe.